stuck in the middle...

welcome to democracy

Well, I've spent the last two days frantically reading news sites and Reddit-Australia, and I still have more election flailing to do, so I'm going to tell you all about it...

Firstly, for the Aussies:WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT???

AAAAAAH!!!!!!!

And for everyone else:We just had an election. It was rather odd.

Normally, we have an election 3 years after the previous, during which we vote for the House, and half of the Senate. Then, we all turn on the telly at 8-ish, to find out that one party is well ahead of the others, and go "Right. So, that's our new Prime Minister chosen." before switching the channel.

This year...- Our Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, called the election early, and made it a special kind where we elect the entire Senate instead of just half. This was referred to at the time (in several newspapers) as a "masterstroke" that proved Turnbull "was never short of a plan".

- We had a long campaign (8 weeks), in which both parties pretty much did what you'd expect, with most people predicting that the Coalition (Turnbull's party) would be returned to power.

- We then had an election. At 8-ish, the husband and I turned on the telly, to find out that the parties were... pretty much even. We shrugged, and switched to Independence Day.

- At 10-ish, we switched back to the news, to discover that the parties were still pretty even. We gave up, and went to bed.

- Two days later, and things are STILL almost tied, and we won't know the result for nearly a week. Said result will probably end up as a dead heat, with both parties scrambling for the leadership.

- Turnbull's "masterstroke" is now being discussed in the papers as the stupidest idea ever.

- Turnbull's election night speech basically said "The opposition lied to the voters, which was why we lost." Which. Guys. Even if you're RIGHT, saying to people "you got fooled because you were gullible, YOU STUPID VOTERS" is not the way to get them on your side.

- The opposition are looking very smug.

- Some very strange people have managed to grab senate seats, including a racist nightmare of a politician who we all thought we'd gotten rid of back in the 90s.